Promoter Eddie Hearn believes a rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Dmitry Bivol is possible if WBA light heavyweight champion Bivol wins his fight against IBF/WBC/WBO champ Artur Beterbiev on October 12th.
Hearn says “win or lose” the Beterbiev fight, Bivol could face Canelo (61-2-2, 39 KOs) at 175 or 168. Interestingly, Mike Coppinger of ESPN spoke with Canelo this week, and he said he wants the Bivol (23-0, 12 KOs) rematch next May if he’s victorious against Beterbiev. Canelo didn’t mention being interested in fighting Beterbiev (20-0, 20 KOs), and it’s pretty obvious why.
Canelo lost a 12-round unanimous decision to Dmitry Bivol in May 2022, and it has bothered him ever since. Coppinger said that Canelo blamed his defeat on having a hand injury, and not being physically right for the fight.
Beterbiev could spoil the plans by knocking out Bivol and leaving Canelo with a less appealing option of possibly rematching Caleb Plant if he’s victorious tonight against Trevor McCumby.
Canelo is defending his WBA, WBC, and WBO super middleweight titles tonight against Edgar Berlanga at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“Canelo doesn’t have a huge output anymore, and when he hurts someone, he’s not frantically trying to get them out of there,” said Eddie Hearn to Chris Mannix’s podcast, talking about Canelo Alvarez having slowed in recent years due to age.
“I think physically, he don’t want to take the chance. He’s quite happy to coast it out because he’s thinking, ‘No injuries. I’ll go again. Thank you very much, everybody. See you later.’
“If you pay him the money, he will fight Benavidez,” Hearn continued about Canelo. “Listen, let’s see what happens with Bivol against Beterbiev. I don’t think that’s a fight that Eddy Reynoso will be screaming for.
“If Bivol wins or loses, that’s an option. If Bivol were to lose [to Beterbiev], Bivol would come down to 168 to rematch him [Canelo]. If Bivol were to win, you have the undisputed fight at 175. That’s a big fight,” said Hearn.
A win for Bivol over Beterbiev on October 12th would make him the undisputed champion at 175 and would set up a big fight between him and Canelo.
